Got a quick start on a cloudy morning with breakfast and a couple of shorts featuring the entire Disney gang. They're all excited to be on a "Hawaiian Holiday" as Mickey plays the ukulele and Minnie practices her hula. The others have less luck on the beach. Goofy just can't seem to figure out surfboarding, Donald sits on a starfish, and Pluto does battle with a very crabby crab.
Mickey, Donald, and Goofy leave the shores of Wakiki to hit the road in "Mickey's Trailer." This state-of-the-art (for 1938) RV has everything an animated animal could want in a modern trailer...except a driver who can take over while Goofy eats. When he rushes to take control of the vehicle, he accidentally sends Mickey, Donald and the trailer back down a busy and treacherous Hill.
Called Uber after the cartoon ended. Considering the weather, the drivers arrived surprisingly fast. The one this morning came in 4 minutes, the one going home in 10 despite the heavy rain. No trouble either way other than ongoing road construction and some flooding in Oaklyn.
Work was no trouble, either. I spent the morning cleaning deli displays and the large cases for seafood and chicken and dusting the latter. We were pretty quiet for almost my entire shift. Sometimes after my break at 11, the sky finally opened, and it started pouring. It was pouring when I called for a ride home, and it would continue pouring and storming off and on for most of the day.
Went straight into lunch and Remember WENN when I got home. "From the Pen of Gertrude Reece" has the station's receptionist (Margaret Hall) showing Betty her magnum opus radio script, Rendezvous In Rabat. This turns into a hilarious spoof of Casablanca, with Scott in the Rick Blaine role, Betty as Ilsa, Victor Comstock as Victor Lazlo, Maple as the cafe singer and the refugees, Mackie as Major Renault, C.J as the bartender and a German officer, Mr. Eldridge as Carl the waiter, Hilary as Rick's rejected girlfriend, and Jeff as the waiter. As with the real Casablanca, Gertie's having a hard time figuring out an ending. Nothing that she or Hilary suggests passes muster. Betty types out her own idea of whom Ilsa should end up with before insisting to Gertie that she should really figure out her own ending.
"Eugenia Bremer, Master Spy" is the station's kindly organist who is delighted to be dating British secret agent Desmond Quist (Daniel Davis). He claims there are still secret codes going out over the airwaves and makes the cast "paraphrase" their scripts to keep them out of enemy hands. Eugenia's been receiving mysterious calls and speaking German words, but it turns out there's a far more benign reason for her behavior than spy capers.
Switched to Clue after lunch in honor of Tim Curry, who passed away two days ago. Based on the board game, six strangers are called to a dinner party at the spooky Hill House by Mr. Boddy (Lee Ving). They're each given a weapon and reveal that Boddy has been blackmailing them. After the lights turn off, Boddy is found dead, and everyone has a means and a motive. Butler Wadsworth (Curry) tries his best to explain it all as they try to figure out who did it "in the hall, with the revolver," before they become the next victims!
This is an old favorite in my family. We taped it somewhere around 1987 and watched that tape for over a decade. Mom used to call it our "stormy weather movie." I can still quote most of the dialogue. Curry is delightful as the supercilious butler, but the entire cast of some of the 80's best comedians has a blast. The movie starts slow with the set up, but give it time. By the end, you'll be breathless just watching Curry run around summing up all the murders! There's also the gimmick of having multiple endings that baffles critics to this day, but makes it the perfect rainy-day DVD watch. (The DVD lets you choose a random ending, or watch all three, as in the video and streaming version.) Highly recommended for your own stormy day viewing if you're a fan of Curry or any of the comedians or love a good ensemble comedy.
Moved to The Gong Show next at YouTube in honor of singer Jaye P. Morgan, who died yesterday. Morgan was a staple on the wackiest amateur show to almost be live from Hollywood, at least until she bared her breasts in an episode. She was joined in the show I saw by Steve Martin and Arte Johnson. The tuba players were surprisingly fun and a guy playing his lips was honestly pretty nifty, but the singer attempting to ape Neil Diamond was terrible, and I had no idea what the guy with the dog was doing there.
Went to Disney Plus for Morgan's episode of The Muppet Show. You'd think a lady who frequently judges the weirdest amateur show on television would have no problems with the Muppets, but first she's not happy when she ends up in a bird costume for the cutesy "Tweedle Dee," then gets hit with bombs all over the place. She finally bonds with Scooter's crotchety uncle JP Gross, the owner of the Muppets's theater, and gets a pretty nifty rendition of "That Old Black Magic" with the Electric Mayhem.
Stayed at Disney after a shower for The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in honor of Peter Cullum, who did the voice of Eeyore in this show. The second episode of the show kicks off with "Friend, In Deed." Rabbit is so fed up with Pooh borrowing his honey, he makes him think he's moving. The others really think he's moving and try to get him honey from a hive so he'll stay. Piglet sees Eeyore sitting on the cliff side and thinks he's sad. The others try to be a "Donkey for a Day" and make him happy, but they do what makes them happy, not him. It isn't until Piglet admits he doesn't know what makes Eeyore happy that the gloomy donkey shows Piglet what he was really doing on the cliff.
Moved to Match Game '76 as I made nectarine-banana pancakes for dinner. Gene wears a very, very bright red coat in the first episode that prompted a lot of cracks from the panelists, including Mary Wickes telling him to stay out of the bullring. The first episode of the next week with Bill Daily and soap ingenue Bennye Gatteys was rather important, as it kicked off with Gene announcing that Richard is going to host a new show called Family Feud in the fall...
Finished the night at Tubi with Blue Valley Songbird. I discuss this Lifetime musical drama from 1999 featuring Dolly Pardon as a troubled singer at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.
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